


Ten Years Worth of Information

by AroundTheMoonbin



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Autumn, Cheesy, Cute, Donghyuck has a broken family, Flashbacks, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Mark helps him, No Angst, Song Lyrics, Strangers to Lovers, Sunflower - Post Malone, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, a lot of soft fluff, lowkey soulmate au, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-12-26 00:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18272402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AroundTheMoonbin/pseuds/AroundTheMoonbin
Summary: “What if we’re… soulmates?”“Soulmates?”“Yeah.”“I guess that makes sense.”





	Ten Years Worth of Information

**Author's Note:**

> [UPDATE: THIS IS ON 5/8/19 THIS FIC WAS MADE BEFORE THE MARKHYUCK IN DALLAS VIDEO ! IT WAS JUST A H U G E COINCIDENCE]

“Hey, are you okay?” Mark asked, his voice breathy and soft. He placed his tender hand cautiously on the stranger’s shoulder. The boy jumped at the sudden touch, before simply nodding into his knees.

This all started about five minutes prior; Mark had been passing through his school’s soccer field, after his student council duties, as a shortcut home. While walking, he pulled his tie loose and looked around at the familiar scenery, his eyes caught a boy sitting alone on the bleachers. His head tucked into his knees, his light brown hair flopped in front of them. The boy’s whole torso shook, Mark assumed he was crying, Instantly getting worried. Mark ran up to the boy without a second thought, running up to the fifth step of the bleachers. The school’s soccer field was empty, only teachers persisted in the school buildings around them. The wind blew Mark’s hair out of eyes.

“Hey,” Mark said again, rubbing his finger on his shoulder as if they were acquainted.

“Are you going to leave or not?” the tan boy whimpered into his knees, he sounded embarrassed. Mark didn’t answer nor leave, instead, he just hummed. The crying boy’s shoulders relaxed, letting his guard down just a little. He continued to whimper some more, his sobs becoming rough and loud, keeping his head in his legs. The wind picked up, causing red and orange leaves to fly around. Trees rattled, birds flying out. Mark shivered, pulling the sleeves of his school blazer below his fingers.

“I’m not going to leave,” Mark breathed once the boy’s sobs dwelled down. Finally, the boy lifted his head up, he slowly turned to look at Mark. Mark had been taken aback at how gorgeous he was. He had a small nose and plump lips; his eyes were red and swollen, his cheeks stained with streaks of tears. The boy wiped his runny nose with the sleeve of his white button up and breathed out a laugh. His shirt was undone two buttons down, no tie to be seen. His blazer sat in his knees, it was blotched with wet stains. His blazer was a shade lighter than Mark’s, a light blue. He must have been a grade under.  

“Thank you, honestly,” he croaked, his thick hair fell in front of his face. “I don’t know who in the right mind would come up to a crying stranger and comfort them.”

Mark blinked, his eyes were soft and gentle. “You’re welcome.”

The boy kept his eyes locked with Mark’s, examining his face; trying to figure out any hidden motifs. Mark pulled his bag off his shoulder and leaned into it, grabbing a bottle of water, handing it to the latter. The boy hesitated, but bowed slightly, accepting his offer after realising how thirsty he was.

“I’m Donghyuck,” he said after taking a huge gulp, his voice clearer. Donghyuck straightened out his back and pushed the hair out of his face, Mark smiled a bit.

“Mark Lee,” Mark told him, smirking, he held his hand out. Donghyuck shook it before he sniffled some more. “So, why are you out here all by yourself on a Friday?”

“I-It’s a long story,” Donghyuck told him, he detached their eyes and looked forward at the field.

“I have all day,” Mark assured. He leaned back and averted his gaze to where Donghyuck was looking. Donghyuck inhaled and exhaled sharply. He looked at the bare trees surrounded the field.

“It’s my family and my friends,” he told the older boy, crouching into himself again. “They make me feel like shit.”

Mark simply hummed along as he listened. Frankly, Donghyuck didn’t know why he was telling the older boy everything. He just felt comfortable, almost safe. As if this random boy would keep his deepest darkest secrets.

“My mom makes me feel like I can’t do anything right. She screams at me about my looks, my grades, basically anything I do that doesn’t fit her ‘perfect child’ version of me. My dad... Well, he’s careless. He doesn’t do much other than drink. My friends aren’t much better either. I have a lot of them, but I can barely call them friends. They don’t really care about me at all.”

Mark cocked his head, now that he thought of it, he has seen the boy around. He was loud in the hallways and constantly surrounded by large groups of people. He was pretty sure his friend, Jaemin, was friends with this boy, he had seen them together a couple of times before.  

As Donghyuck went on about his family life, Mark felt a sudden pang of guilt. Donghyuck told Mark about the last fight he had with his mom, it had been that morning. It ended horribly, causing him to be late for school. His mom called him disgusting names, Mark couldn’t even start to imagine what it was like being called those things by your own mother. He told him about the bruises his mother would give him, but whenever he tried to tell any authority, his mom would blame it on him.

“‘Self-harm’ she would say,” Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “It’s not every day, but she has sudden attacks, like this morning.”

“I am so sorry,” is all Mark could say. His mouth dropped open a little bit, sympathy for the boy pulling at his heart. He couldn’t just let the boy go back to his house like that.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Donghyuck sighed. “It isn’t anybody's fault, no matter how much I used to blame myself for it.”

“Donghyuck, do you want to stay at my house today?” Mark asked once the boy finished talking and had a minute to breathe. He was asking a practical stranger to stay over. He felt responsible for some reason. Attached, if you will.

Donghyuck looked surprised, his eyes widening. “I wouldn’t want to bother you or your family.”

“I don’t think you should go home tonight,” Mark told him, speaking rather fast. “Plus, it wouldn’t bother us at all.”

Donghyuck’s lips parted and he bowed again, “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t worry about it. Come on, it’s getting chilly,” Mark said as he picked up his bag and swung it over one shoulder. He helped Donghyuck get up, hearing his knees crack as he did so. Mark giggled, making Donghyuck push his shoulder playfully.

“My house isn’t that far away,” Mark said once they left the campus. “Let’s go quickly before it gets dark.”

Mark pulled his phone out of his back pocket and texted his mom, telling her that one of his friends were staying over for the weekend, his mom was more than okay with it.

“So, what do you like to do?” Mark asked on the way home. He glanced at the younger boy, completely understanding the amount of beauty the boy had once seen him without teary eyes and puffed up cheeks. Donghyuck was so effortlessly stunning, he clutched onto his yellow bag by the straps, letting his elbows hang low by his hips. His hair blew in the autumn wind, a trail of yellow leaves following his steps.

“I dance,” the boy said simply. “A lot. I’ve slept on the studio floor before. When I just didn’t want to go home. I feel more at home there than I do at my actual home. What about you, Mark?”

Mark hummed, he looked down at his feet, kicking stones as the walked up the hill. “All I do is study.”

Donghyuck laughed at that. His mouth opening wide and his eyes turning upwards. It was a sound that made everything seem brighter. His laugh made Mark smile, he looked at Donghyuck with pure fascination. Mark wanted him to do that more, laugh.

“You have to have some kind of hobby,” Donghyuck said.

“I mean… I like playing the guitar and songwriting. I don’t do it very often, schoolwork takes up a lot of my time.”

“You never struck me as the music type,” Donghyuck chuckled. “You should play me a song one of these days.”

Mark grinned and nodded, giving a little hum.

“What’s your favourite song?” Donghyuck asked, genuinely curious about what the older boy is interested in.

“Sunflower,” Mark said without hesitation. “The one by Post Malone.”

Donghyuck chuckled, “I see. I like that song too.”

They reached Mark’s small brick house in a matter of minutes.

“Ma, I’m home,” Mark called once they got in. He kicked his sneakers off and placed them on the shoe rack left of the door, Donghyuck did the same. For some reason, it all felt very familiar to Donghyuck. As if Mark had been his friend for years. As if he was familiar with his house and family.

They walked into the kitchen with their school bags on, getting greeted by Mark’s mom sitting at the dining table, arranging various bouquets.

“This is Donghyuck,” Mark told her, Donghyuck bowed for the nth time that day.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” his mother answered, she flashed a smile, that resembled heavily of her son’s. She asked them about their day, they quickly responded, before heading upstairs to Mark’s bedroom.

Donghyuck sat on the edge of Mark’s bed looking around his room. There wasn’t much to the room, a couple of pictures here and there, string lights hung up around. His desk was the most alluring to Donghyuck. It was the only messy part of his whole area. Post-its covered the wall it was against, books and textbooks scattered around the whole desk, loose paper stacked in a pile near a few pen holders. Mark sat on his desk chair, and dumped his bag on the side, taking off his blazer and hanging it on the back of the chair before looking at Donghyuck.

“I’ll get a shower ready for you,” Mark said, Donghyuck’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve had a rough day. It’ll probably help.”

Mark went to his bathroom and put a folded towel on his counter, starting up the water for him so he didn’t get confused with controls. He called Donghyuck into the bathroom, showing him everything. Donghyuck continuously thanked him.

“Hey, stop thanking me. You might want to start getting used to this,” Mark smiled, setting down fresh clothes near the towels before he left the bathroom. Donghyuck didn’t exactly know what he meant by that but it made him feel reassured. It made him feel secure, safe. Sort of the same feeling when he’s at the dance studio, except warmer.

Once Donghyuck was happily showering, Mark changed out of his school uniform and into a blue sweatshirt and some sweats. He lay out a foam mattress on the floor, placing sheets over it. He took a pillow from his bed, fluffed it, petting the top once he placed it down. He put a duvet out and neatly folded the top. Mark sat down at his desk, opening up a textbook and his laptop. He studied for the short amount of time Donghyuck was in the shower.

The bathroom door opened.

“Hey, Donghyuck. How was the shower-”

Out of all the things in the world, Mark was the least prepared to see Donghyuck come out of his bathroom. His mouth unnoticeably dropped, gaping at Donghyuck from head to toe. The younger boy’s had a small smile on his face, his foot placed on other timidly. His hair was damp and his face looked refreshed, tan skin glowing under his dim string lights. The two were the same height and size but somehow, Mark’s clothes seemed to look better on Donghyuck. He wore Mark’s soft shorts that hit his knees and a loose white shirt. They fit him in the places where it was seemingly loose on Mark. Mark thought it was remarkably cute. He caught himself staring, quickly batting his eyes away and clearing his throat.

Donghyuck started to open his mouth to stay something but before words were exchanged, Mark’s mother had called them down for dinner.

Dinner went by fast. Mark’s mom had made stir-fried noodles, that the boys devoured fairly quickly. Donghyuck started to feel close to Mark’s mom, she was welcoming and caring. He found out that she had been a ballerina in her 20’s before she had Mark and became a florist. She opened her own little flower shop, Lee’s.

She seemed like the type of person who knew how to do everything. Talent and kindness flew through her, just like her son himself.  

The boys thanked Mark’s mom before heading back up to Mark’s room. Donghyuck sat crisscrossed on his bed, his phone in his hand. Mark sat on the floor on the other side of his bed, he looked through his movie CDs in a little box.

“Do you want to watch Ponyo?” Mark poked his head up. Donghyuck agreed, giving Mark a shake of his head. Mark took his laptop off the place on his desk and placed it at the foot of his bed. He patted the space next to him, inviting Donghyuck to sit, which he happily did. Mark started up the movie before leaning back. He looked at the back of Donghyuck’s head, smiling at himself. At the beginning of the movie, Donghyuck hadn’t stopped talking. He told Mark about his love for the sea and how Ponyo hit home for him. About when he was younger, he lived near the ocean when his dad was clean and sober. He would go out to the dock and catch little fish in his blue bucket before throwing them back into the water. Mark giggled, imaging baby Donghyuck. Once the movie kept playing, their conversation died down. Letting the sound coming from the computer fill the silence of the dark room.

The pair fell began to fall asleep, Donghyuck laid back, accidentally falling on Mark’s shoulder. Mark's eyes shot up when he felt the other boy’s body on him, he turned his eyes and looked at Donghyuck. He gazed at his soft features and how his hair flopped in front of his eyes. Mark’s hand reached up and brushed the other boy’s hair, watching how it fell back into the same spot. Pulling the covers over Donghyuck, careful not to move and wake him up, Mark crawled into the sheets himself. He let Donghyuck sleep knowing what a rough day he had; For some reason, he wasn’t quite sure why he was so comfortable with Donghyuck. Mark was never the type to open up easily, something about Donghyuck just made Mark feel completely at ease. Donghyuck snuggled up into Mark’s neck, wrapping an arm around his waist. Mark chuckled, Donghyuck reminded him of a lost puppy. He began drifting into sleep, placing his head on top of the others comfortably.

*

“Mark?”

Mark heard a small voice calling his name, he slowly opened his eyes, rubbing them. He looked over and saw Donghyuck sitting up, gently nudging his shoulder.

“Yea- What’s wrong?” Mark sat up, he squinted his eyes to try to see Donghyuck through the darkness. Mark’s voice was rough and husky; Donghyuck might’ve thought it was the nicest thing he has ever heard.

“I’m sorry I fell asleep in your bed,” Donghyuck mumbled, a hint of embarrassment behind his voice. He rubbed the back of his neck and fiddled with his shorts, sliding his fingers around the hem.

“No, no. It’s okay. I don’t mind,” Mark reassured him, patting his shoulder. “Why did you wake up?”  

“I had a nightmare.”

“Oh no, are you okay?” Mark frowned, worry laced around his words. Donghyuck’s nodded and rubbed his hair out of his face, Mark could tell that he was sweating. “What was it about?”

“Nothing important, I was being chased. I don’t know what it was. Just… big and scary,”

“That sounds terrifying,” Mark said, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Donghyuck nodded, looking around the room a bit.

“What time is it?”

“Around 3,” Donghyuck said, his face still tensed. Mark put his hand on Donghyuck’s thigh before an idea came to his head, Mark’s face lit up. Donghyuck looked at him in confusion.

“I have somewhere I always go when I need to clean my mind, let’s go!”

Donghyuck’s raised a brow as he watched Mark grab a rolled blanket. He tucked it under his arm before grabbing Donghyuck by the hand. Mark threw his grey open jacket, which, barely caught.  

“Shush, we can’t wake up my mom,” Mark warned, putting a finger over his lips, pressing himself against the wall and looking out his door. Donghyuck covered his mouth, trying to cover his giggles. This is the happiest he’s been in a long time, completely forgetting about the nightmare. They entered the kitchen, Mark grabbed two ice creams cones from his freezer, handing the chocolate one to the boy behind him. Mark led him to the back door, letting him wear a pair of his slides, they walked into his backyard.

“If this creeks on me today... ” Mark whispered half to himself, opening the tall fence gate carefully. It opened quietly as hoped and the two boys walked out. They stood in a small back alley, vines covering the backs of the brick houses. The two paused, taking a second to open their ice cream and pocket the wrapper.

“So, Mark,” Donghyuck spoke with a normal volume, getting a wack from Mark. “Sorry, where are we going?” he whispered.

“You’ll see,” the older boy winked.

Donghyuck closely followed Mark, their shoulders and arms touching as they walked. The two walked past many houses, eating their ice cream, Mark clearly taking his time walking. They passed a few shutdown stores before getting to the back of a set of short brown brick apartment buildings. Mark jumped on a big electrical box and then onto the fire escape that hung down, waving at Donghyuck to do the same. He pushed himself up to the tall box with his hands, draping his leg over ungracefully, Mark giggled at him. Groaning as he managed to push himself up.

“How did you do that so easily?” Donghyuck asked once he joined Mark on the rusty stairs.

“Practice,” Mark grinned, walking up the stairs until they got to the top of the building.

“Huh, this is nice,” Donghyuck smiled, looking around, Mark nodded. The roof was flat,  The building was shorter than Donghyuck had first thought when they were walking up, three floors at the most.

Mark placed the blanket down and offered Donghyuck a seat, patting the space next to him. The silence was comfortable as the boys looked out at the night sky. The wind was chilly but it cleared Donghyuck’s mind, washing away his worries, letting his mind trail. Donghyuck rested back on his hands and looked at Mark. “Why?”

Mark knit his eyebrows, “What do you mean, ‘ _why_ ’?”

“Like- why are you so nice to me... And caring? We barely know each other.”

“I feel like I’ve known you forever,” Mark answered simply, laying down on his back, resting his head on his forearm.

“Yeah, it’s weird,” Donghyuck chuckled.

“What if we’re… soulmates?”

“Soulmates?”

“Yeah.”

Donghyuck hummed, _soulmates._ “I guess that makes sense.”

At the time, they were dumb and naive, but something told Donghyuck he’s not going to get rid of Mark anytime soon; even if he wanted to.

They talked a lot that night. About things, Mark has never told anyone: insecurities, the past, his actual, real feelings, the stress and pressure he gets because of school. All while Donghyuck added light-hearted jokes in to make the latter feel better. It made Mark laugh till his stomach hurt, clapping his hands hysterically and punching him in the shoulder.

Mark talked about his sexuality too, Donghyuck was the only person apart from his mother that he had come out to. He told Donghyuck about how many girls’ confessions he had to turn down and say it was because he “had no time.” It put him at ease to figure out that Donghyuck understood completely, even though Donghyuck was much more open about that said topic.

The sun started peeking through the trees, critters and birds starting to make noise. They watched the sky turn a mix of light pinks and yellows.

“Huh, we’ve really been talking all night?” Donghyuck asked, the sides of his mouth curling up. He turned to gaze at Mark, the light hit him perfectly, outlining the profile of his face with a soft glow.

Mark sighed contently, “Yeah. We talked ten years worth of information.”

“I guess I’ve known you for ten years,” Donghyuck smiled, knocking his shoulder into Mark’s.

“I guess so.”

 

*

When they decided it was time to finally head back to Mark’s, it was seven a.m. The small stores started opening and a few elderly people waved at Mark, who bowed politely and smiled.

“Little angel boy of the neighbourhood, aren’t you?” Donghyuck teased, smirking at Mark.

“I used to be a paperboy,” Mark chuckled. He grabbed Donghyuck’s hand playfully and ran towards his house. “Mom’s gonna wake up, she won’t be happy if she finds out,” he winked, before letting out a huge laugh.

When he was with Donghyuck, he felt like a child again. All his stress and worries melting away, he hadn’t felt that way in a long time. He reckoned Donghyuck hadn’t either.

They opened the gate, it creaked loudly. Mark winced and squeezed in between the crack of the door so that the gate wouldn’t wake his mom up, Donghyuck did the same.

The couple quickly walked up the stairs and back into Mark’s room. Settling under the blankets, unintentionally snuggling into each other.

“It was hella cold outside,” Donghyuck joked, moving his just his eyes to look at Mark’s eyelashes. Looking at Mark up close he could see blemishes on his rather perfect face. He also analyzed the way his eyes sink in, probably due to stress and lack of sleep, sighing a bit. “You just take care of yourself more.”

“Hm?” Mark glanced up at him, confused at the random statement.

“I don’t know. I think you need a break sometimes, from all work and school and stuff,” he rambled, making Mark chuckle.

“Don’t worry,” Mark smiled, he subconsciously peered down to the younger boy’s lips. The air started becoming awkward, Mark cleared his throat to break the growing tension. “Do you want breakfast?”

“No, it’s warm,” Donghyuck smiled, sinking into Mark’s puffy white blanket more, bringing it up to his nose.

Mark smiled, _cute_. He joined Donghyuck and sunk down next to him, shifting his gaze between the boy’s eyes.

“Can I kiss you?” Donghyuck blurted out, his voice being muffled from the blanket. Mark's eyes widened, thinking that he misheard.

“Huh?”

“I-” Donghyuck started again. He remembered that he met Mark a day before, immediately regretting the question. “Nevermind.”

 

*

The rest of the day was chill. Once Mark’s mom woke up, she had to go to work, telling Donghyuck she would bring back sunflowers for him and tulips for Mark. The boys settled on the couch, turning on something on Mark’s t.v. The movie was background noise, more than anything, the two ended up talking over the tv. It seemed that they never ran out of things to talk about.

“Hey,” Donghyuck said, once the conversation faded out and they started paying attention to the animated movie. “You never played a song for me.”

“Oh, right,” Mark said, his eyes glancing around his living room. “I rap, mostly.”

Donghyuck cooed, “Well, rap.”

Mark laughed, “If I rap, you dance.”

“Deal.”

*

Donghyuck ended up sleeping over the day after as well. Mark’s mom had brought them flowers and Donghyuck tucked it behind his ear, Mark took a Polaroid of him, placing it up near his desk.

They joked and talked, sneaking out at night to go up to the roof once more.

Donghyuck talked about his family, worrying about going back home on Monday.  His mom frankly didn’t care about where he was, she was always doing something or the other. His dad was probably drunk with his friends.

“I’ll come with you,” Mark said, resting his cheek on Donghyuck’s shoulder.

“Hm?”

“Surely nothing bad will happen to you if I go to your house,” Mark explained.

“No one has ever come over to my house,” Donghyuck sighed, thinking back. “There’s nothing much to my house. It’s kinda depressing compared to yours.”

“It’s alright,” Mark smiled. “You know, if anything happens, you can always come here whenever. Even on school days, fuck, you can come here at three am and I would be there.”

Donghyuck laughed, “I’ll keep that in mind.” He raised his head off Mark’s shoulder and took a inhale of the warm air, a lot warmer than the night before. They sat in comfortable silence, looking at the stars that were visible amongst all the city lights,  before Donghyuck turned his gaze over to Mark, looking at his profile.

He pressed his hand on Mark’s warm cheek and pressed a light kiss on the other, “Thanks… for caring.”

Mark eyes widened but quickly relaxed, he hummed in response, keeping his eyes drawn on Donghyuck.

“Why are you looking at me like that,” Donghyuck whined a little, lightly pushing Mark’s face away.  

“Can I kiss you?” was what Mark had answered with.

“What?”

“Hey, you asked first,” Mark stated, suddenly becoming unsure if he heard correctly. “Right? In the bedroom?”

Donghyuck chuckled, looking down at his socked toes, curling them into himself as his heart rate picked up. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, Mark,” Donghyuck locked eyes with Mark.

Mark’s eyes glittered, hesitantly placing his hand on the other's jaw, pulling him in to connect their lips. It was haste and quick, but Donghyuck could feel Mark’s emotion pour into it.

Donghyuck smiled, resting his forehead on Mark’s. He looked up above his eyelashes at the older boys eyes and started humming once again.

“You’ll be left in the dust unless I stuck by ya’,” he sung. “You’re a sunflower-”

Mark froze before pulling away and resting back on his hands, raising a brow. “You can sing too?”

“I think your love will would be too much,” Donghyuck continued.

Mark smiled, “That’s my favorite song.” He looked back up at the sky.

“I know, I remember,” Donghyuck said, smirking.

And the rest of the days went like this; Donghyuck’s life wasn’t perfect by any means. It was probably the shittiest, but somehow, Mark Lee made it a little less shitty.

Donghyuck’s little tulip.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally based off the song, Wild, by Troye Sivan but somewhere along the writing process, it turned into a songfic for Sunflower by Post Malone. I don't really know how that happened but it did.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this!! Don't be scared to leave a comment, I love them <3
> 
> Check out the other fic's on this ao3, I hope they don't disappoint ;)


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